


Bluebeard Calling

by fictorium (orphan_account)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-25
Updated: 2012-03-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 21:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some scary angst when Emma uses Regina's keys to go exploring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bluebeard Calling

The floor is slick with blood when Emma falls to her knees. She doesn’t hear the dull splash, because her heart is roaring in her chest. She can’t think. She can’t breathe. She can’t believe the obvious, horrible truth that her eyes are trying to tell her.

Respect my privacy, dear. That was Regina’s parting shot before leaving for work. Leaving Emma, naked and happy in Regina’s bed. The keys hadn’t exactly been left in plain sight, and if Regina hadn’t been so flustered and deliciously post-coital, she might have noticed that she left that particular drawer open.

Emma wasn’t looking for anything bad. She was looking for an embarrassing secret or two—and yes, maybe a little leverage in the battles that punctuate their sexual encounters. Opening the cellar door (the last key on the ring after the others revealed a dusty attic room with unused painting materials, and guest bedrooms that had clearly never seen a guest) has left Emma wishing frantically that she could turn back time.

The smell is the worst part - metallic and earthy, almost like an old-fashioned butcher’s store. Emma breathes it in, her breathing erratic and impossible to control, trying not to be sick every time she sees another horrific detail in the dimly-lit room.

The bodies are lined up against a workbench, slumped like the dolls Emma played with as a child—hand-me-downs that were broken or in some way just not right. These full-sized human dolls have bloody chasms where their hearts used to be, and Emma can see Regina in her mind, clutching and grasping and covered in blood. Those hands that have brought Emma so much pleasure are also capable of such terrible, terrible things.

She has to go, Emma realizes. It’s already lunchtime and Regina will no doubt be home by five. That gives Emma time enough to shower, to ditch her bloodstained pajamas, to go home and pack. She’ll take Henry out of school, hide him somewhere with Mary Margaret.

Emma will forget every happy feeling she’s ever had about Regina, and instead she’ll go back to the station and call in the FBI. Emma’s ready to cuff Regina herself, if she has to, but she’ll be skipping town with the kid tonight either way. 

It’s not until she’s standing beneath the shower, her clothes already smoldering in the fireplace, that Emma finally allows herself to cry.


End file.
